The Danger of Good Ideas

Every once in a while, I'm brought up short and reminded of key strategy execution and change management "basics."  Yesterday was such a day. I led a large meeting with much presentation and some discussion.  In general, the mood was good and post-meeting comments were positive.

Then I got "the email."  This is the note (not addressed directly to me but sent to a senior associate) that questioned much of what we were doing. The note was respectful, thoughtful, and included many positive comments and sincere suggestions.  In short, it was the most dangerous kind of message.

Thoughtful messages with good suggestions are hard to simply reject. They require a response. In fact, many of the ideas require careful consideration.   That's where the danger creeps in.

It is most difficult to differentiate between a good suggestion in support of the vision of an initiative and a good suggestion that leads the effort astray. The differences are subtle.  In these cases, one must revert to the vision clarity documents created at the beginning of the initiative (you did create them, didn't you?) and "draw the straight line" from where you are today to the end goals.  If the suggestion is fully aligned with the goal, it may well be worth pursuing. If it is not - it must be rejected.

You must also decide what to do with the person who presented the good idea. Is this someone who truly believes and agrees with the direction and goals of the initiative and just looking for a different way to get there?  That person is a "keeper."  Or is this a person who, at core, really thinks that the direction is "okay," but could be better if it were tweaked just a little bit? That person is a danger and must be addressed very directly. 

This is very, very typical in strategy execution. There are several common metaphors. The reason the metaphors are so common is because the situation they describe happen so frequently:  "It's like herding cats" or "If this person isn't on the bus, she needs to be off (or under) it."  These metaphors describe the challenges of keeping people aligned and focused on the stated goals.  

There's another concept that Steve Jobs wrote about and I believe completely: You need the strength of conviction to say "no" over and over again.  It's not the bad ideas that hurt you – they're easy to reject.  It's the good ideas that can kill you – modify your scope, change your focus, get you off course.  It's also called "death by a thousand cuts."  No one small adjustment kills – but a thousand little ones do.

Our job in strategy execution and change management is to say "thanks, but no" - and keep moving in the direction we've defined.

A Marketing Lesson on St. Patrick's Day

Welcome to St. Patty’s Day!  We went out last night and stopped in an Irish pub on the way home (yes, our mature attempt to avoid today’s lunacy).  It’s St. Patrick Day posters had the following line, promoting it’s St. Patrick’s Day “services:”

“You can’t drink all day if you don’t start in the morning.”

What a brilliant marketing statement, focused on the day purely from the perspective of its customers.  God help them.

A business should be focused completely on making its customer’s happy.  Everything else will follow.  Here’s a small excerpt from Steve Denning’s latest blog:

“What Goldman and other firms haven’t grasped is that once a firm adopts 20^th Century thinking and single-mindedly pursues shareholder value, it gets drawn into doing things that actually undermine long-term shareholder value, by pursuing “bad profits”, by exploiting customers in ways that ultimately destroy customer loyalty and encouraging self-serving behavior among the employees.”

I recommend Steve a lot. PLEASE read this and find out why. Promise it will be worth your time. http://onforb.es/FRGbwS

RedZone agrees. We’re all about making our clients happy.  If you know a company that would benefit from RedZone’s professional, cost-effective, strategy execution support, please send them my way.

Check. Your move.

What do these lines, letters, and numbers mean to you?

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 d6
3. d4 Bg4
4. d4xe5 Bxf3
5. Qxf3 d6xe5
6. Bc4 Nf6
7. Qb3 Qe7

It's "Chess" notation.  Specifically, "Algebraic notation is a method for recording and describing the moves in a game of chess" (as explained here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algebraic_notation_(chess)).

One of the most important elements of successful Strategy Execution is also core to the game of chess.  Yet, perhaps because it's so obvious, it's rarely talked about.  That element?  The need to anticipate.

So obvious, so important.  Strategy Execution requires leaders to think ahead, to anticipate the challenges that those impacted by the change may throw into the path.  These hurdles will take many forms.  Some people will find "factual" reasons why the new approach is wrong.  Others will take longer to complete tasks than planned.  Some will "demonstrate" how the new strategy doesn't work; Others will "hunker down," and just not follow through until forced.  Resistant people will find very creative ways to gum up the works - sometimes without even realizing they're doing it!

The superb chess player is always looking steps ahead, anticipating his opponents next move, then the next, and the next.  The player looks at many alternatives, scenarios, and options, trying to assure that whatever the opponent does, he has a move prepared to counter.  (For an interesting look at today's best, and perhaps one of the best the world has ever seen, check out http://ti.me/xwCsvq, a Time magazine article about Magnus Carlsen).

Magnus Carlsen (photo courtesy Time.com)

It is the job of leaders to know - from the start - that these challenges will show up, and to think through - regularly, throughout the process - how those challenges will be addressed.

One of the advantages of anticipating these threats early and often is that it buys time. It is much easier to think through implications and develop appropriate responses to a challenge well in advance than it is when the problem occurs suddenly, unexpectedly, at a very sensitive moment.

There are many ways to identify and mitigate "Threats to Success."  Some work better than others.  Without doubt, they all work better when coupled with adequate thinking time.

Think ahead.  Anticipate.

34.  Qh8#

Checkmate.

The Customer Is Always - The Customer.

So many organizations say "The Customer is always Right."  Others won't take a step forward on a new product or service without extensive market research and assurances from its major customers that it likes the new product and will buy it.

That's a real risk.  Too much effort is focused on whether CURRENT customers see the new offering as a step forward TODAY.  It's irrelevant.  Although I agree completely with the concept of establishing whether there is a market for a product or service, one should never confuse innovation with having a single-minded focus on what the customer tells us it wants.  

Michael Porter says: "... If you listen to every customer and do what they ask you to do, you can't have a strategy....Strategy is not about making every customer happy. When you've got your strategist's hat on, you want to decide which customers and which needs you want to meet. As to the other customers and the other needs, well, you just have to get over the fact that you will disappoint them, because that's actually a good thing. " (http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6737.html)

Another voice - Mark Cuban - Don’t Listen to Your Customers: "I'm working with a company that at one point had a product that was not only best in its class, but also technically far ahead of its competition. It created a better way of offering its service, and customers loved it and paid for it.

"Then it made a fatal mistake. It asked its customers what features they wanted to see in the product, and they delivered on those features. Unfortunately for this company, its competitors didn't ask customers what they wanted. Instead, they had a vision of ways that business could be done differently and, as a result, better. Customers didn't really see the value or need until they saw the new product. When they tried it, they loved it."  ( http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/222501)

Finally, from Steve Jobs:  

"It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them." As quoted in BusinessWeek (25 May 1998)

"You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new." -  Interview with Inc. Magazine for its "The Entrepreneur of the Decade Award" (1 April 1989)

(And here is a slightly longer blog that discusses Steve Jobs' concepts very well in a B2B service environment - it's worth the read: http://www.techjournalsouth.com/2011/06/resisting-the-steve-jobs-%E2%80%9Cinnovation-temptation%E2%80%9D-in-new-b2b-products/)

Customer input is critical.  Customer focus?  Absolutely.  Customer dictated?  Not so much.

The Oyster, the Grain of Sand, and the Pearl

It’s funny how a metaphor suddenly appears and yet is so obvious you wonder what took you so long to see it.

Over the last month, I’ve taken to joking that the name of my consulting firm should be changed to Oyster Consulting, because “We’re the grain of sand that irritates the hell out of everyone, but when we’re done, you’ve got a pearl.”

It’s amazing how true that is. 

Significant strategic change is never easy.  People resist, no matter how clear it is that the change is needed and it’s the right thing to do.  People are more comfortable with the Status Quo.

And because of that, change won’t happen without getting people out of their comfort zone. It is only then that people will be willing to move in the new direction.  Thus, the need for that grain of sand.  That grain of sand is so irritating, it makes people uncomfortable – uncomfortable enough to change.

Being the grain of sand from within an organization is career threatening.  Once the process is done, people won’t remember the benefit you delivered – they’ll just remember that you were really irritating.  That’s why bringing in the grain of sand from outside can be so valuable.  That outside grain can help irritate people, make change happen, and then leave. All that’s left behind is that beautiful pearl.

Taking A Sharp Curve

You see it all the time. Companies that are great at running their business suddenly have something big go wrong.  The examples are endless:  System implementation failures, new product introductions gone wrong, an acquisition integration botched, an expansion plan scuttled.  But why? 

Consider….

Companies spend most of their time racing down a straight line. They hire managers that are excellent at keeping things going in the right direction, making adjustments along the way.  They’ll even pick up speed, keeping their eye on the ball, working hard at accomplishing their goals. They’re good at it. 

But every so often, a company has to take a curve.  Sometimes by choice, more often pushed by conditions outside its control.  Not a little curve or a slight change, but a major-league, ninety-degree plus curve.   And that’s the problem.

Most companies are really bad at the sharp curves.  They don’t happen often.  They haven’t been built for them.  The management team isn’t skilled at navigating them.   So they struggle.  Eventually most get through the curve, but it takes much longer and costs a lot more than planned.  Sometimes they fail completely. 

Helping companies take the sharp curves.

Successful Strategy Execution uses a structured and disciplined process, strong sponsorship, a thorough understanding of execution risks, and a tool kit of tactics to mitigate those risks.  The right Strategy Execution approach enables companies to realize the goals of their most important initiatives on time and within budget.  

Use a specialist.  It’s all we do.  What looks like a sharp curve to you is our straightaway.  We’ll get you through it fast and efficiently and then leave you to do what you’re really good at – running the company, fast and strong, down a straight line. 

An Unexpected Change of Plans

It was yesterday, Saturday afternoon, about five p.m.  My wife and I had a date last night.  It had been a very busy and stressful week.  Her mother had had foot surgery - not "major" in the sense of life-threatening, but certainly significant.  She was still in the hospital, recovering.  Our youngest had been dealing with exams all week (not exactly pleasant around the house!); I was scrambling to juggle several work challenges.  So I was truly looking forward to our date.

At about 5:30, my wife came downstairs and said, "My mom has had a really bad day.  I've got to go out and see her.  I'll be back in about an hour."  An hour came and went.  At 7:00 pm, I got a text message: "I'm going to have to stay with her tonight.  Please bring me out some dinner later."

No!  I texted her back: "You're kidding, right?"  We had a brief exchange, and it was clear.  She wasn't kidding, she was going to spend the evening at the hospital with her mother, our date was off.  No!  I was so looking forward to our date.  I had worked so hard all day and all week.  I had made special plans for us.

After about 15 minutes, my mood changed.  I was furious!  I slammed around the house, told the girls we needed to go get something to eat, and to take two cars because one of us was going to have to take things out to mom.  My eldest helped pull together her mom's overnight things, and, still fuming, we headed out to dinner.

We ordered Mom's dinner and started to chat about how to deal with the evening.  I thought that, perhaps, I could go out to the hospital and spend some time there.  Then I remembered that I had promised to clean carpets in a couple of rooms before guests came tomorrow.  Well, I could do that tonight and my daughter could take the food and clothes to mom.  That would work - we'd all get to do something needed, and I'd get something done unexpectedly early in the process.

But I still wasn't happy.  In fact, I was downright moody and grumpy.  It looked like something productive was going to come out of the evening, but I still wasn't happy.

We finished dinner and headed off in our different directions.  It felt like things might work out.  Not exactly as initially planned but, you know, okay.  I got the carpet cleaning equipment, did my work, and, all in all, dealt reasonably well with our unexpected change of plans.

This morning, it hit me. I had experienced a classic case of "Negative Resistance to Change."  Shock, Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Testing, and Acceptance.  All within a two hour period.  (I must acknowledge, as always, that much of my Change Management training came via Daryl Conner, author of "Managing at the Speed of Change."  This model is discussed in detail in his book.  In turn, it is closely related, literally, to Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's classic "Stages of Grief" model.  Daryl and Dr. Kubler-Ross collaborated at one point.  In my own defense, I have developed a few ideas things of my own along the way.)

My change was relatively minor, and so I traveled the various stages quite quickly.  The bigger the change, the more negative the perception, the longer it takes to reach acceptance.

No matter how long you have been doing something, it's nice to get reassurance that you're doing it right.  I had that happen last night - and it was completely outside a business context.